Center for Walmart’s Welfare

ThinkProgress ignores Walmart’s battle against minimum wage hike

The Center for American Progress Action Fund, a prominent Lockheed-Martin advocacy group, has been conspicuously silent on the possibility that one of its donors, retail giant Walmart, will forego a number of stores in Washington, D.C., if the city enacts a living wage law.

The left generally celebrates such laws, and Walmart is a frequent target for activists who complain about substandard corporate wage policies.

Walmart has also donated large sums to CAP, the 501(c)(3) iteration of the Action Fund. The latter publishes the ThinkProgress blog.

ThinkProgress, normally a big advocate for imposing a higher minimum wage, has yet to publish a post on Walmart’s statement on Tuesday that it will open three fewer stores in DC if the city council requires all large companies to pay employees at least $12.50 per hour.

"Like any business, we have a responsibility to our customers, employees and shareholders to reevaluate our options when it looks as if local rules may significantly change," Alex Barron, Walmart’s regional manager, wrote in the Washington Post on Tuesday.

"The LRAA would clearly inject unforeseen costs into the equation that would create an uneven playing field and challenge the fiscal health of our planned D.C. stores," Barron insisted.

While ThinkProgress did not publish a piece on that decision, it did attack Walmart competitor Target in a Wednesday morning post.

Update: Over two hours after the Free Beacon brought ThinkProgress' silence on Walmart's move to light, the blog posted an item accusing the CAP donor of "singlehandedly taking down worker rights legislation."